Johnkr that is very interesting information about the eagles hunting the herons. I had no idea, thanks! That might explain why I have not seen any around. We do live by a lot of natural water. Well that's one thing in favor of eagles. Carol I just googled scarecrow like you suggested and found the info. Thank you. I can see how that would be very effective. I can also see my Malamute playing in it! LOL It sounds like you have lived in some wonderful places. I would love to live by the sea some day. Sounds great just saying it. hehe Sandy I imagine your very correct about some critters liking the scarecrows. My silly Mal for one. LOL She loves to play "chase the hose" whenever I water. Nancyd I believe you are very correct about the cats safety. These are big birds. This was the closest one had come to the house. In the pictures you will see how a pergola is going to be a challenge to say the least. The pond runs 40ft by 20 with a bend at one end. Carol thanks for asking me to brag... I mean post pics. We only got the pond running last fall so I am still pretty excited about it. I also included a link to an older post on the Cottage garden forum if you are interested in some "extreme" ponding/gardening or as I like to think of it, "when I should have been shot on the spot for even thinking of it." This is one end of the pond. I had to take two shots to get the opposite end. I have just begun working on this new falls area. I still have to trim the foam and disquise the liner and tubing here. I put a planter pocket on top of the rock and planted trailing plants so that should help. This is the little pond, it is 100gal. Thank you all very much, LeSan Here is a link that might be useful: Ground Zero

Around here bald eagles are a dime a dozen. Hard to believe they were on the endangered species list. The river attracts them here. We are on a raptor migration flyway and in the fall the audubon society has a raptor count at Franklin Mountain. Last year they decided to turn a dream into a reality and put GPS trackers on three golden eagles they caught. It was somewhat hard to track these birds because they often went into areas that didn't have any reception for the GPS. They know that one bird died. They believe it died after eating from a pile of dead wild pigs that the state is trying to eradicate. The pigs were killed with lead bullets. It appears the bird died from lead poisoning after feasting on dead pigs left in a pile. So actually the tracking was a success even though the bird died because it revealed a significant hazard that these birds face. There is now a greater push in this area to get the government and hunters to change the bullets they use to something nontoxic. And because hunters eat the meat they kill with these bullets they certainly would benefit too by using nontoxic bullets. They also hope to use the GPS info to map the bird's route so wind turbines won't be placed where they can endanger migrating golden eagles.

How exciting to come across a Bald Eagle, especially when they aren't common to your area! A shame you couldn't get a picture.

I have seen them almost daily. They perch on the tops of very tall dead trees. I wish I had a camera with a strong zoom. They are beautiful mature Bald Eagles with bright "white" heads. Today it must be the male and female (larger is the female). I have also seen young Bald Eagles that don't have the full-on-white feathers yet. For the want of a good camera...! This is in Sanford, Florida at Lake Monroe. Anyone near here? Sharon